[November 21, 2009] Program offers a helping hand after jail Tweet Nov 21, 2009 (Post-Bulletin - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Like many of the people he's prayed with, Andy Kilen found a new lease on life in what would seem like an unlikely place -- the Olmsted County jail. That's where, while volunteering to lead weekly Bible studies since 1991, Kilen discovered that many of the inmates wanted and needed further help after they were released. In Olmsted, Dodge and Fillmore counties, 13 percent of people discharged from probation and 33 percent of prison inmates are convicted of a crime within three years, according to community corrections. By 1999 the seeds of the Rochester Network For Re-Entry, a multifaceted, faith-based program led by Kilen, began to sprout. The network, which observed its 10-year anniversary during its annual fundraising and community-building dinner Friday, has since grown to include three residential aftercare homes, support for families of prisoners, mentoring for high-risk youth and outreach for children. Among the hundreds of people who've been touched by the program is Walter Bush, who in 2001 was convicted for selling crack cocaine. "Jail and prison was the best thing that happened to me," Bush said. "That's where I met Andy. Otherwise our paths would never have crossed." Bush, who is now on the board of directors for the network, credits the Christian faith as shown to him through Kilen for helping turn his life around. "For 40 plus years I couldn't do that," he said. Along with a new beginning, the network can also provide a place to start at one of three residential homes in southeast Rochester. Preference is given to people with a connection to the Rochester community, Kilen said, but what they were convicted of doesn't come into play. What matters is how that person used their time in jail or prison, he said. Did they hold a job, attend Bible study or take correspondence classes? How they use their time in the network will later prove just as important. "When they come here to live there are not a lot of rules," Kilen said. "But what we ask them to do is a whole lot more." To see more of the Post-Bulletin, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.postbulletin.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]